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Today, Explained

Is Venezuela better now?

06 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.487 - 9.563 Sean Rameswaram

It's been just over two months since the president went to war with Iran, and it's getting really confusing, you guys. We're shepherding ships through the strait. Just kidding, we're not anymore.

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9.743 - 17.076 Unknown

In hockey, they say, uh, uncle, right? The war is over. We've won this. This war has been won.

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17.437 - 19.12 Sean Rameswaram

J.K., it's not a war.

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19.184 - 20.326 Unknown

They don't like the word war.

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20.806 - 40.538 Sean Rameswaram

For those of you doing the math at home, we're nine weeks into a four-week war that we won eight weeks ago. The president, by this point, is supposed to need congressional approval to conduct this war, but he's flagrantly bypassing that, like, law? They call it a military operation. because that way you don't have a war, you don't have legal problems.

40.898 - 67.591 Sean Rameswaram

But on today's Explain from Vox, we thought we'd look at the OG Trump II foreign intervention of 2026. It's been four months since the United States overthrew Nicolás Maduro. We're going to ask if things in Venezuela are better now. Some are saying yes. Support for Today Explained comes from CNN. Cool. Cable News Network, what's up? Do you want to live forever? What? Yes? Maybe?

67.611 - 85.382 Sean Rameswaram

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85.442 - 94.618 Sean Rameswaram

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95.189 - 117.607 Unknown

Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part?

Chapter 2: What happened in Venezuela after Maduro's overthrow?

139.946 - 165.637 Sean Rameswaram

Today Explained. Sean Ramos from I got a friend in Venezuela and we spoke a day or two after Trump overthrew Maduro back in January. And while everyone I knew was mad, the United States was back to its old tricks in Latin America. My friend was happy, like tears of joy, happy. So I asked her to join us on the show today to help you understand why.

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165.677 - 179.356 Sean Rameswaram

OK, under Maduro, the humanitarian crisis just, you know, increased dramatically. We had like eight months with protests every day.

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179.436 - 192.865 Carla

I'm here for democracy and freedom in my country. I was born in democracy and I'm going to die in democracy.

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193.435 - 206.77 Sean Rameswaram

We couldn't find food, we couldn't find medicines. Actually, my family and I left the country in 2018 just because of that. The military and the

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207.88 - 247.569 Sean Rameswaram

Police officers had the power to take your cell phones and take a look at your WhatsApp messages, who have you been calling, and your text message to see if you have the name of Maduro, for example, on your cell phone and what you were talking about then. a lot of prisoners, political prisoners, just because you send a WhatsApp opinion about what was happening, okay? We didn't have any freedom.

248.249 - 258.762 Sean Rameswaram

And we are living in like in a war because we're trying to survive here in Venezuela with the idea of not even being able to talk about what's happening.

261.543 - 289.069 Sean Rameswaram

If you go to a hospital now and back then, in 2013 when the crisis began, you need to, if you have a surgery, for example, you need to take all the medical supplies, the anesthesia, the gloves for the doctors, those kits of clothes, you need to take them to the hospital because we have a humanitarian crisis.

289.049 - 317.667 Sean Rameswaram

Right now you can find food, but the idea of not being able to pay for their food is like the same. The minimum salary in Venezuela is 30 cents of a dollar. All the Venezuelan families had a reason to leave the country. And I actually didn't want to leave my family, you know, my mother, my sisters, my nephews. I didn't want to leave them.

319.009 - 352.03 Sean Rameswaram

When we left, we returned because I wasn't feeling okay living in another country, being able to work and find food and send money home. I mean, I felt guilty. Maybe it's silly to say that, but I used to feel guilty when I had an ice cream and I was thinking my mom wasn't. I'm sorry, but this is sensitive. It's okay. But that's why I returned.

Chapter 3: How do Venezuelans feel about the current situation?

769.345 - 783.085 Carla

Thank you.

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786.018 - 801.563 Sean Rameswaram

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801.543 - 831.313 Sean Rameswaram

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831.293 - 857.356 Sean Rameswaram

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857.817 - 873.848 Sean Rameswaram

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874.008 - 885.551 Sean Rameswaram

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Chapter 4: What were the humanitarian conditions under Maduro?

885.571 - 888.537 Sean Rameswaram

That's a nice thought. Clara White, did you try Flowers?

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888.517 - 907.414 Unknown

I took advantage of 1-800-Flowers, buy a dozen roses, and get a dozen free deal for this Mother's Day. I sent some over to my mom. They're beautiful, really well packaged, and fresh, bright spring roses. And now I've got a bouquet for myself, which is just... Great to have.

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907.434 - 926.64 Sean Rameswaram

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931.497 - 951.784 Missy Ryan

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951.764 - 970.099 Missy Ryan

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970.159 - 998.038 Missy Ryan

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998.322 - 1017.394 Sean Rameswaram

Today Explained here with Missy Ryan, who's a staff writer at The Atlantic. Missy, we just heard from my friend Carla, who lives in Venezuela and is cautiously optimistic about the restoration of democracy there. You, not too long ago, published a piece at The Atlantic titled Venezuela Seems to be Going Well?

1017.627 - 1047.634 Unknown

Yeah, the headline of the piece, I think, really captured the surprise that many of my colleagues here at The Atlantic and then many of the Latin America experts that I spoke with for the piece felt three months on from the ouster of Maduro, which was that contrary to a lot of expectations about the potential destabilization of Venezuela, the potential for an Iraq-style armed insurgency or fracturing of the state,

1047.614 - 1069.7 Unknown

Things were pretty quiet in Venezuela. And in fact, there had been a relatively positive outlook response from the Venezuelan public, now starting from a very, very low place of, you know, kind of things can't get much worse in terms of economic conditions, political conditions for Venezuelans.

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